The TableBuilder dataset file for CEaCS has been reissued to correct errors identified in the data released on 19th June 2013. For details on changes, see History of Changes

MULTI–RESPONSE DATA ITEMS

A number of questions included in the survey allow respondents to provide more than one response. The data items resulting from these questions are referred to as 'multi–response data items'.

An example is shown below where a parent can report all types of involvement in informal learning activities last week with a child aged 0–2 years. (Note: the 'Not applicable' category comprises those respondents who were not asked the particular question, e.g. a child who is aged 3–12 years is considered 'Not applicable' to this data item).

When a multiple response data item is tabulated, the same record (or child in this case) is counted against each response they have provided (e.g. a child who was Read from a book, Assisted with drawing and engaged in Physically active play will be counted one time in each of those three categories).

A category exists for children who are in scope of the population but did not provide a valid response to any other categories (e.g. a child who did not have parental involvement in informal learning activities will fall into the category 'None of the above').

As a result, each child in the particular population is counted at least once, and some children are counted multiple times. Consequently, the sum of individual multi-response categories will be greater than the population or actual number of people applicable to the data item as respondents are able to select more than one response.

Multi-response data items are identified in the CEaCS TableBuilder data item list with a # appended to the data item name (e.g. Usual education/care/parenting arrangements two years prior to attending school #).

The Income Unit and Child levels are counting units, whereas the Income Unit Care and Child Care levels are repeating datasets. The repeating datasets in the CEaCS are a set of data with a counting unit which may be repeated for a child or an income unit. The 'one to many' relationships described in File Structure for the links between the Income Unit level and the Income Unit Care level, and the Child level and the Child Care level, shows the connection between counting units and repeating datasets, i.e. an event or episode is repeated so that multiple records with the same set of data exist for the same child (or income unit).

For example, a child may have used more than one instance of child care such as (i) a long day care centre, (ii) family day care and (iii) grandparents. Consequently, three records would be present on the Child Care level for this child, representing a repeating dataset, with each record containing information for a common set of data items, e.g. Number of days of care used, Number of hours of care used, cost of the care and so on. Also, the child will have summary records in addition to the individual care records, described below.

In this example, although the three records all relate to a single child, any totals from the Child Care level are a count of child care arrangements.

Summary Records and Data Items

In addition to the general or base records present in the repeating datasets (i.e. on the Income Unit Care and Child Care levels) that, for example, provide details about each instance of child care, there are also 'summary' records that provide aggregate information for selected groupings of the types of care. For example, summary records are available for groupings of formal care, informal care and all care.

In the example of a child who attended long day care, family day care and also received care from a grandparent, there are three base records on the Child Care level because they attended three separate instances of child care. For each record, the data item for the cost for the type of care was reported as $38, $10 and $5 respectively. Therefore, the summary record for this child for the total cost of formal care (i.e. long day care and family day care) is recorded as $48 ($38 + $10). Similarly, the summary record for this child for the total cost of all care (i.e. all three types of care) is recorded as $53.

The following data items comprise the classifications that enable the data for these summary records to be tabulated:

Income Unit Care level - Type of care used by the family.
Child Care level - All types of care.

The Summation Options section in the Customise Table panel contains the counting units/weights that are available. As mentioned in the File Structure section it is critical that the correct weight (or summation option) is used when specifying tables. The names of the weights (summation options) for each level are shown below.

The default summation option in this TableBuilder is the Income Unit level weight (Weights). The default summation option will be automatically added to a table when the table is being specified - so care needs to be taken that this is the correct weight required for the particular tabulation. If the default weight is not the required weight then select the correct weight from the Summation Options list, because what is counted in a table depends on the weight or counting unit selected.

In general, the Child weight is used if child estimates are required and the Income Unit weight is used if estimates of income units are required. Child Care level weights should be used when producing tables with data items from the Child Care Level. Income Unit Care level weights should be used when producing tables with data items from the Income Unit Care level.

To enable easier table specification and to ensure that the correct populations, and hence the correct data, are being tabulated, a number of 'flags' have been included in the TableBuilder that should be used at all times when extracting data.

Usual or Last week

To differentiate between child care used in the 'last week prior to the survey' and care 'usually' used, data items (or flags) are available to restrict the population in a table for this purpose. These flags are on the Income Unit Care and Child Care levels.

It is imperative that these usual or last week care flags are used when any data items from the Child Care level or the Income Unit Care level are used, regardless of whether the care level data items are used alone or with other Income Unit or Child level data items. If these flags are not used for Child Care or Income Unit Care data items, the data will be incorrect.

The flags and their categories are:

Income Unit Care level

Flag to indicate if any child in family used care usually

0. No children in the family used care usually
1. At least one child in the family used care usually

Flag to indicate if any child in family used care last week

0. No children in family used care last week
1. At least one child in the family used care last week

Child Care level

Flag to indicate whether care used usually

0. Care not used usually
1. Care used usually

Flag to indicate if care used last week

0. Care not used last week
1. Care used last week

Labour force scope flag

In households where all adults were out on scope of the LFS, no information was obtained for the 2011 CEaCS. However, as long as at least one parent in the household was in scope for the LFS, information about children aged 0–12 years and some information about their parents were collected and included in the 2011 CEaCS.

There is a labour force scope flag (Labour force flag - indicating whether parent did not respond to LFS) to indicate whether the income unit is out on scope. This flag (present on the Income Unit level) indicates if one parent in a family was out on scope or coverage. Limited employment and demographic data are available for these families.

Information about the working arrangements used by parent/guardians to help care for their child was not available for parent/guardians who were out on scope or coverage of the labour force for any reason.

Cross-tabulating data items from different levels will produce different results depending on the weights that are used. It is therefore important to understand how TableBuilder works and what is being counted. Estimates will always be produced in TableBuilder - but care must be taken to ensure that they are logical and correct.

In general, when cross-tabulating data items from different levels using the weight from the lower level, the results are the sum of the counting units or weights at the lower level. For example, if cross-tabulating 'State or territory of usual residence' from the Income Unit Level (i.e. the higher level) by 'Sex of selected child' from the Child Level (i.e. the lower level) while using the lower (Child) level weight, then the results will be the sum of children - as this is the counting unit on the Child Level. In simple terms, TableBuilder effectively copies the data from the higher level to each record on the lower level and then sums the relevant records at the lower level. In this example, the table will produce estimates of the number of male children and female children by State/Territory.

When cross-tabulating data items from different levels using the weight from the higher level things are more complicated and care needs to be taken. Under this scenario, fields at the lower level effectively become multi-response fields at the higher level and, in addition, each category in a data item is tabulated as 'one or more occurrences with the particular characteristic(s)'. For example, if there are two male children in the same Income Unit then the results are tabulated, and should be interpreted, as an estimate of the 'number of Income Units with one or more male children' - in this case the Income Unit is only counted once. If there is one male and one female child in the same Income Unit then the Income Unit is counted twice (i.e. multi-response) with the male child included in the estimate of the 'number of Income Units with one or more male children' and the female child from the same Income Unit included in the estimate of the 'number of Income Units with one or more female children'. It is important to note that the totals in these types of tables indicate the actual estimate of Income Units (i.e. each Income Unit counted only once) while the component cells, which contain the multi-response concept, will be greater than the total.

It is therefore critical that the construction of a table, when cross-tabulating data items from different levels using the weight from the higher level, is conceptually well considered. For some data items the data tabulated may not be particularly useful or logical. For this reason the CEaCS TableBuilder contains particular data items that enable easier and more logical specification of cross-tabulations. These data items comprise filtering or index data items, flags and population data items.

The main filtering or index data items are 'Type of care used by the family' on the Income Unit Care Level and 'All types of care' on the Child Care Level. Also, on both the Income Unit Care and the Child Care Levels, there are flags that indicate whether care was 'usually' used or used 'in the last week' prior to the survey. And finally, some population data items (such as 'Children aged 0–8 years') are included on the Child Level.

These data items should be used in almost all tables as they restrict or filter particular populations and determine the correct types of care that have been used. More importantly, they eliminate many of the complexities when cross-tabulating data items from different levels. The following examples show how these data items are used.

The table below uses the data items 'State or territory of usual residence' from the Income Unit level and 'Whether child attends school' from the Child level. The Child level weight is used as it is the lowest level. The result is a count of the number of children attending school by state.

Using the same table as above, but replacing the Child level weight with the Income Unit level weight, the result is a count of the number of Income Units (i.e. families) with at least one child attending school. If a family has a child attending school and a child aged less than 4 years this family will be counted twice. Therefore, 'Whether child attends school' is treated as a multi-response data item when the Income Unit weight is used.

Most cross tabulations done within the CEaCS publication involved a data item called 'All types of care' found on the Child Care level. Understanding how this data item works is instrumental as it can result in miscounts if used incorrectly.

Below are the output categories for this data item:

00. No care or preschool
01. Before and/or after school care
02. Long day care centre
03. Family day care
04. Occasional care centre
06. Grandparent
07. Brother/sister
08. Non-resident parent
09. Other relative
10. Other person
21. All care and preschool
22. All formal care
23. All informal care
24. Preschool
25. All care excluding preschool
31. Used formal, used informal, used preschool
32. Used formal, used informal, no preschool
33. Used formal, no informal, used preschool
34. Used formal, no informal, no preschool
35. No formal, used informal, used preschool
36. No formal, used informal, no preschool
37. No formal, no informal, used preschool

Categories 00 to 10 and 24 can be interpreted as a multi-response item within this data item. A child can have a response to any of these types of care and can appear more than once.

Categories 21, 22, 23 and 25 must be used when calculating totals for formal care, informal care and all care. This is because a child must only appear once when calculating totals. You cannot sum formal care types or informal care types as the total will not represent the sum value for each child, but the number of instances of each type of care, resulting in double counting. This is particularly important when cross-tabulating the 'all types of care' with another variable which may differ between different types of care for the same child (e.g. cost of care or days attended).

For example, consider creating a table cross-tabulating the type of care by cost of child care last week in $20 ranges. If a child attended family day care at a cost of $40 and occasional care at a cost of $20, that child should appear once in the 'all formal care' row with a value of $60. This is the result that will be produced by using the category 21 to get a total of 'all formal care'. If categories 01, 02, 03 and 04 were summed together to create a total for 'formal care', this child would appear twice in the 'total formal care' row, once with a value of $20 and once at $40. They would not appear with their true value of $60 for cost for care.

The table below is the number of children with a cost of care last week after CCB and CCR in broad ranges by formal care types. It shows that the sum of the formal care types is not equal to the 'All formal care' category. For the cost range $10-$19, the sum of the components is 83.9, whereas the total of All formal care is 80.3.

Categories 31 to 37 must also be used when calculating totals. For example, to determine how many children attend both family day care, grandparent care but don't attend preschool, use the 'Used formal, used informal, no preschool' category which is category 32. This is because if you group together these items (categories 03 and 06) to generate a total, then a child will appear twice in this total, resulting in double counting. Using category number 32 only counts the child once.

The 'All types of care' data item, includes responses for both attendance last week and usually. To generate frequencies for care usually used by the child, select the data item called 'Flag to indicate whether care used usually' and select 'Care used usually' and use this as a filter to restrict the table population. This same logic applies for tables generating frequencies for care arrangements used 'last week'.

The table below is a count of the number of instances of care for children aged 0–8 years who usually use care by state. It uses the data items, 'State or territory of usual residence' from the Income Unit level, 'Children aged 0–8 years' from the Child level and 'All type of care' and 'Care used usually' from the Child Care level. The weight used is the Child Care level weight as the lowest level used is Child Care level. In this example, as it is a count of the instances of care, 'Care used usually' or 'Care used last week' must be used otherwise some double counting will result. A total can't be calculated for 'All types of care' as this data item is treated as a multi-response data item. Totals are available in the summary records for the data item 'All types of care' (i.e. All care and preschool, All formal care, All informal care and All care excluding preschool).

The table below is a count of the number of instances of care for families with at least one child usually using care by state/territory. It uses the data items, 'State or territory of usual residence' from the Income Unit level and 'Type of care used by family' and 'At least one child in the family used care usually' from the Income Unit Care level. The weight used is the Income Unit Care level weight as the lowest level used is Income Unit Care level. In this example, as it is a count of the instances of care, 'At least one child in the family used care usually' or 'At least one child in the family used care last week' must be used otherwise some double counting will result.

To ensure confidentiality, TableBuilder prevents the cross–tabulation of certain variables which could result in respondents being identified. These are known as field exclusion rules. If field exclusion rules exist for certain variables, users will see the following message: "Maximum number of fields in exclusion group exceeded."

In the CEaCS TableBuilder there are restrictions with the number of geographic data items that can be added to the same table.